Are the Mavs Tanking?

The Dallas Mavericks have fallen in the standings of late, and they added another loss after getting blown out by 39 points against the Brooklyn Nets. They are not a contender by any means this year as the newly acquired Kristaps Porzingis recovers from his injury suffered last season and rookie Luka Doncic is their centerpiece on offense.

Tanking makes sense for the Mavs this year because their first-round draft pick is only top-five protected, but Paul thinks they are just a bad team after trading away Harrison Barnes, Wesley Matthews and DeAndre Jordan.

“I don’t know if they’re tanking,” Pierce said. “They’re just not a good team. You got rid of DeAndre Jordan, Harrison Barnes. They’re going to build around Luka Doncic. That’s plain and simple, so they’re not a very good team once they let go of all these assets.”